DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS ON A GUIDED-WAVE POLARIZATION SPLITTER UTILIZING A BIFURCATING WAVE-GUIDE IN A UNIAXIAL ANISOTROPIC SUBSTRATE

A new type of guided-wave polarization splitter is proposed for the op eration at optical Frequencies. The basic structure of the device is a bifurcating waveguide fabricated in a uniaxial crystalline material s uch as LiNbO3. The splitting behavior of optical waves into two waves with mutually perpendicular directions of polarization by an optically anisotropic material is utilized in the branching section of the pres ent polarization splitter. One of the conspicuous features of the devi ce is free of any electrical control via the electro-optic effects. So me numerical results obtained with the finite difference beam propagat ion method indicate that extinction ratios better than 20 dB are possi ble of realization for both TE and TM modes.